Shinpuku Saikan

It was a Friday night and I had plans in Kyoto. They were pretty late, and near Kyoto Station, which meant that that I could hit up a ramen shop I'd been meaning to visit for a long time. Kyoto is known for its two types of shoyu ramen, an assari kind and a kotteri kind. The kotteri ramen is perhaps most associated with chain Tenkaippin, whose flagship shop I visited last year. Finally I had a chance to visit the flagship shop of the most famous shop of the assari kind: Shinpuku Saikan.

An old school shop with a line, the only bowl offered was the chuka soba. This kind of traditionalism reminded me favorable of other classic shops, like Shukaen or Ganso Nagahamaya.

金曜日の夜で今日に予定がありました。時間があったので、京都駅の近くにあるラーメン屋さんに行けるかなと思っていました。京都は二つのラーメンの種類で有名です。こってりの醤油だったらひょっとしたら天下一品のチェーン店が一番有名かもしれなくて、去年本店に行きました。ようやくあっさり系が有名な新福菜館に行く機会が出てきました。

「中華そばや」って感じの新福菜館は中華そばぐらいしか提供していません。前行った朱華園と元祖長浜屋に似ていたかな。

The Bowl
Medium yellow noodles, dark shoyu broth, and thin slices of chashu fit the bill of a classic chuka soba shop in my eyes. The broth's hoisin-sauce style flavor and saltiness was too strong to drink in large quantities, but just strong enough to provide a powerful flavor to the soft, tender noodles. The chashu was pretty tough, but the fatty slices were salty and brimming with flavor. This kind of simple, salty ramen is where a lot of mediocre shops go wrong, but good, classic shops nail it.

中太い黄色い麺、暗い醤油スープ、細いチャーシューがあるとやっぱり中華そばですね。海鮮醤っぽいなスープは濃くていっぱい飲む感じがなかったですけど、柔らかい麺に味つけることができました。チャーシューはちょっとかみにくかったですけど、うまかったです。こんなシンプル塩辛いラーメンだったら普通の店はよくミスますけど、クラシック的な店がよく行けます。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

はい。

Should You Go?
Yes, it's a Kyoto classic.

京都の定番で行った方がいいです。

Information
新福菜館